The real cause of gridlock: politics
By Daniel G. Jennings
web posted July 8, 2002
In the last few weeks the media has been full of stories about the
problem of gridlock: the jammed freeways and slow moving
traffic that have turned America's highway system, once the envy
of the world, into a slow moving hell on wheels. Some of these
stories try to pinpoint the cause of gridlock and usually blame
increasing population, and a few of them contain quotes from
traffic experts who offer solutions. Unfortunately, almost none of
these stories addresses the real cause of gridlock: politics, and
the real reason why little or nothing is being done to solve the
problem of gridlock: politics.
A prime example of how politics causes gridlock is the city of
Los Angeles, which has had the nation's worst traffic for over 40
years. For decades engineers and other experts have been
proposing various solutions to the City of Angels' traffic
problems and have seen their efforts sabotaged or destroyed by
political pressures.
In the late 1980s, for example; experts with the California
Department of Transportation proposed the building of a light rail
line between Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley and
Downtown LA as a way to relieve congestion on the
Hollywood, Ventura and Golden State freeways. This low cost
solution, which would have utilized an existing railroad right of
way, could have been built cheaply and quickly and been up and
running in a few years but politics intervened. Some San
Fernando Valley residents objected to light rail vehicles moving
through their neighborhood so politicians substituted plans for an
expensive subway line for the light rail. The subway cost $100
million a mile to build and ended up as something of a national
disgrace absorbing billions in tax money and disrupting entire
neighborhoods with construction. Eventually, Los Angeles
County voters got so fed up with the wasteful subway project
that they passed a referendum making it illegal for politicians to
build more subway lines. Fifteen years after the light rail project
was first proposed, traffic on the LA freeways is worse than ever
and the $100 million a mile subway only connects Downtown
Los Angeles and North Hollywood. San Fernando Valley
residents now have to drive on the freeway to reach the subway
station if they want to take the subway, hardly a solution to
gridlock.
Politics also put a halt to another much needed transit project in
Los Angeles, a subway line between Downtown LA and Santa
Monica, something that's been on the drawing boards since
1907. Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman had federal
law amended so the subway couldn't be built west of Western
Boulevard.
Nor is Los Angeles the only American city in which politics is
holding up progress in fighting gridlock. In Seattle, the
construction of a much-needed light rail line is held because city
council members in the suburb of Tukiwila can't agree on the
light rail line's route. Some of them want it to run along a
freeway, others want it to run through the downtown of their
community and close to local businesses in an effort to spur
economic development and increase property values.
Beyond the political battles over individual transportation
projects, there is the mindless and close to idiotic opposition to
rail based transportation systems from ideologues of both left
and right. Even though electric powered light rail trains and
streetcars are among the cheapest and best methods for greatly
increasing the capacity of our transportation system and reducing
gridlock on the freeways. Such systems can move more people
than freeway and buses and are almost as fast as expensive
subway systems. Yet, self-proclaimed conservatives and
libertarians fight almost every effort to create rail based transit
with well organized propaganda campaigns.
Left-wing ideologues have labeled rail based transit racist and
tried to fight efforts to build rail systems in the courts.
We have the technology, the money and the resources to solve
the problem of gridlock. And many American communities are
trying to solve this problem; cities like San Diego, Sacramento,
Portland, Ore., Denver, Salt Lake City, Dallas and St. Louis
have created successful light rail lines and cities like Minneapolis,
Charlotte, Seattle, Houston and Phoenix are trying to create new
light rail lines. Portland is also experimenting with a new streetcar
line. Unfortunately, these efforts are isolated and limited because
of our present political climate.
The solution to gridlock is not to adopt some super new
technology but to change the political climate so we can use the
technology, money and resources at our disposal to solve the
problem of gridlock. The question is how much gridlock do
Americans have to put with before the politicians solve the
problem of gridlock.
Daniel G. Jennings is a freelance writer and journalist who lives
and works in Denver, CO. He has worked as a reporter and
editor for daily and weekly newspapers in five states.
Enter Stage Right - http://www.enterstageright.com